G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

For those who are curious:
https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/search

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

I was reading some of the news regarding St. Joseph's College on the KWC thread. Fiscal/Accreditation-wise, I guess it looks pretty bleak right now. Hope they can get this turned around. I didn't dive in too deep, so I don't know their issues. There may be deep-rooted problems beyond money (I guess we should never assume that all colleges are doing a great job). However, my default position is to root for fellow small faith-based schools.

BTW - I saw that the latest Department of Education stats have OVU down to 375 undergrad students (218 of which are athletes). Those numbers seem awful low to me. That being said, their numbers have been really low ever since they came into the conference (I can't go back further, because I knew nothing about them before they came into the conference), and I've never heard/read that the school is concerned about the low enrollment numbers. Maybe OVU's model is different than most and those numbers are considered normal? Does anybody ever hear anything regarding OVU viability concerns?

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

ABjo - good point regarding synthetic turf. I grew up in State College PA and still get back there some. Penn State has really beautiful natural grass facilities for most sports. In fact, they have made a point of keeping natural grass when most universities have gone synthetic. Notably, the lacrosse field is synthetic.

[ABjo]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Very cool seeing men's lacrosse news starting to show up on the conference website. I hope CU adds both men's and women's teams soon. Great sport.

BTW - Mercyhurst, Seton Hill and Lake Erie are nationally ranked.

Agree. Really cool sport that is growing nationwide. However, tough to get to a lot of games because it's so freaking cold during their season.

I can see CU wanting to have a turf field before they add the sport. Winter play on a natural grass field really rips it up.

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Very cool seeing men's lacrosse news starting to show up on the conference website. I hope CU adds both men's and women's teams soon. Great sport.

BTW - Mercyhurst, Seton Hill and Lake Erie are nationally ranked.

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

She is actually friends with my oldest daughter, but not one that I know myself. I know she had a WJU offer too. Happy to see the G-MAC pull an athlete from our school.

[buckeyeblitz]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Buckeye -

G-MAC v-ball news from all the way down here in Tampa:
Seffner Christian's Emma Noskey (2018, 5'11", OPP/RS) verbally commits to Hillsdale College.

My family might know just a little bit about this HS :)
From all I've heard, great kid. Wish it was CU, but nice to see her in conference.

Thanks for the update! Tough to recruit kids out of Florida to come up to Michigan so I am sure that is a great get for Hillsdale! Really looking forward to the 2017 conference race with all of the new teams joining in. Going to make for some great battles on the volleyball side of things!

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Buckeye -

G-MAC v-ball news from all the way down here in Tampa:
Seffner Christian's Emma Noskey (2018, 5'11", OPP/RS) verbally commits to Hillsdale College.

My family might know just a little bit about this HS :)
From all I've heard, great kid. Wish it was CU, but nice to see her in conference.

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Movin' on up!

Yep, and the GLVC wasn't kidding about neighbors. The two conferences' offices are only one block from each other (which puts both approx one mile away from NCAA headquarters). It will be interesting to see if there is increased collaboration. They had a Christmas lunch/party together - so it seems pretty chummy.

[ABjo]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Looks like the G-MAC office moved to downtown Indy. I saw a tweet from the GLVC which referenced the G-MAC being their "downtown neighbors". I looked at the website, and the address did indeed change. Looks like the new office is nicely positioned between the Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium.

Movin' on up!

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Looks like the G-MAC office moved to downtown Indy. I saw a tweet from the GLVC which referenced the G-MAC being their "downtown neighbors". I looked at the website, and the address did indeed change. Looks like the new office is nicely positioned between the Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium.

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

JDon - Good to hear. Hope it works out for her and for your company. I've often thought that the G-MAC someday might be wise to include an alumni/career coop of sorts. None of the schools are really big enough to have a sizeable network by themselves. However, combined they would. It's not the craziest idea. I know that the Big Ten (and several other conferences) have an academic/research consortium.

[JDonAB92]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

Blue, we just hired a Cedarville grad from work. She is a recent grad and is attending George Mason for her grad work.

When she was introduced, they said she went to a "small school in Ohio". I asked where and she replied: "you probably have never heard of it....Cedarville". I said, oh yes, good Christian school outside of Dayton. She is good. She said she is real nervous and had to take sleeping pills because of being nervous about new job. She will do good. Just FYI. First Cedarville grad that I know of that I met in person.

[BlueBlood]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

And on the topic of conference championships, I think the required minimum is six teams but I might be wrong on that.

That's the number I had in my head too. However, part of me thinks that might only be for sports where an AQ is on the line. I'm not sure how Wrestling/Swimming works. I was surprised that the GLIAC lists Wrestling as a sponsored sport with only 4 teams - the GLIAC situation is what got me thinking that 6 might not necessarily be needed.

[CardinalAlum]

Re: G-MAC All-Sports and Conference Business Thread

I don't think I'm reading too much into it either. Mercyhurst and Seton Hill have already been announced as G-MAC affiliate members. WJU has not. I'm just saying that it looks like a WJU announcement could be forthcoming.

That's all I'm reading into this.

Now, if you want wild and crazy speculation: I think WJU and NDC would be nice adds for Swimming and Diving (only 4 G-MAC schools have Men's S/D) and Wrestling* (again only 4 schools have this). The GLIAC-to-G-MAC schools are used to having both of these as conference sports. Adding a couple affiliates so that the conference can sponsor (or more fully sponsor**) these sports seems like it could be advantageous for all parties. Those two schools have the sports, are in the conference footprint, and seem to fit the profile of G-MAC institutions.

* Alternatively, Tiffin and Ashland would also be possibilities for Wrestling affiliate members.
** I'm not sure that there is technically a minimum number of schools required to sponsor these sports. The GLIAC only has 4 wrestling schools, but lists it as a sponsored sport. However, they do not hold a conference meet like the MIAA or PSAC do.

Wheeling Jesuit is currently an affiliate for the Appalachian Swimming Conference, men's lacrosse is affiliated with ECAC, and wrestling is still independent. That said, I know Jesuit routinely competes against the majority of G-MAC schools in swimming and lax, although I'm not sure about wrestling. If Jesuit became a G-MAC affiliate for any of those sports, it wouldn't surprise for me.

As an alum, I'd love to see Jesuit as an affiliate for all three of those sports but this is all hypothetical. Though I am surprised Jesuit didn't become an affiliate at the same time Mercyhurst and Seton Hill jumped on board.

And on the topic of conference championships, I think the required minimum is six teams but I might be wrong on that.